Highlights:
- The company provides a platform to detect cloud vulnerabilities and threats across networks, identity, compute, applications, and secrets.
- Wiz’s platform ranks vulnerabilities by risk, factoring in severity, exposure, exploitability, blast radius, and business impact.
Recently, Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is set to acquire Wiz Inc., the Israeli cloud security firm, for approximately USD 30 billion.
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, the deal could be finalized soon—provided there are no last-minute obstacles like those that have derailed previous negotiations.
In a familiar turn of events, these previous negotiations date back to July 14 of last year, when Alphabet was reportedly in advanced discussions to acquire Wiz for USD 23 billion. However, later that month, reports emerged that Wiz had called off the talks. Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport reportedly stated in an internal memo that “saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice.”
The most significant change over the past eight months appears to be Alphabet’s increased offer. The USD 30 billion bid seems more enticing to Wiz’s executives and investors than the previous USD 23 billion. Additionally, the higher offer may have alleviated investor concerns, as The Wall Street Journal notes that one reason the earlier talks fell through was apprehension over the time required to navigate regulatory approvals.
Wiz was established in 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik, who previously led Microsoft’s Cloud Security Group and co-founded Adallo Inc., a cybersecurity startup acquired by Microsoft for USD 320 million in 2015.
Wiz provides a software platform that enables companies to identify vulnerabilities and detect malicious activity within their cloud environments, covering networks, identity, compute, applications, and secrets. The platform consolidates all relevant data in a single interface at any scale, facilitating faster insights and more informed decision-making.
Wiz’s platform also offers vulnerability ranking with a risk-weighted perspective, enabling users to evaluate vulnerabilities and misconfigurations based on factors such as severity, exposure, exploitability, blast radius, and business impact. Additionally, the platform supports Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Kubernetes APIs.
Prior to its acquisition, Wiz secured USD 1.9 billion across seven funding rounds, including a USD 1 billion round in May 2024, which valued the company at USD 12 billion.
Wiz’s rapid growth has been partly fueled by acquisitions. In December 2023, it acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Raftt for an estimated USD 40 million to USD 50 million. This was followed by the purchase of cloud security startup Gem Security Inc. for a reported USD 350 million in April 2024 and the acquisition of cybersecurity startup Dazz Inc. for USD 450 million in November.
The reported USD 30 billion deal would mark the largest acquisition in Alphabet and Google’s history—by a significant margin. Previously, their biggest purchase was Motorola Mobility for USD 12.5 billion in 2011. In more recent years, Google’s largest acquisition was Mandiant for USD 5.4 billion in 2022.